Smart communities

Introduction

Each of us belongs to different communities: at work, leisure, politics, health … but
the fact is that daily life is reducing physical contacts. By contrast, the numbers
of digitally connected people are increasing exponentially. The challenge for the
smart community is to find a way for these communities to allow more contacts
with greater efficiency, more personalised and human, with more trust. Smart
technology can help engage citizens, non-governmental organisations,
businesses and the academic community in rising to the challenges and
solving the problems, a community that is greater than the sum of its
parts, a hub of innovation and economic growth, liveable, sustainable
and resilient. The digital transition presents a big opportunity to invent
new tools (just witness the incredible growth of the social network) to
support this demand while being aware of the danger of substituting
physical by virtual contacts. The art is to increase physical contacts
through virtual tools.

Some facts and figures

The most “digitally-mature” companies
have a revenue growth 6 times higher
than that of the less mature companies.
And beyond the strictly financial impact,
it appears that the employees of the
companies that are more advanced
in their digital transformation feel
more comfortable in their professional
settings, with index levels of professional
wellbeing 50% higher than for the
less advanced ones. The culture of
digital companies focuses strongly on
the human factor: these companies
understand that employees may be a
source of constant improvement and
even innovation. [8]

In April 2017, 3.81 billion people were
active internet users and 2.91 billion were
social media users. [9]

Every second, on average, around 6,000
tweets are tweeted on Twitter, which
corresponds to over 350,000 tweets
sent per minute, 500 million tweets per
day and around 200 billion tweets per
year. In Twitter's short history, they went
from 5,000 tweets per day in 2007 to
500,000,000 tweets per day in 2013. [10]

As of July 2017, Spotify, the music
streaming service originally founded in
2006 in Sweden, had 60 million paying
subscribers worldwide, up from 30
million paying subscribers in March
2016. The number of active users
(including free subscriptions) is even 140
million worldwide [11]. Music-streaming
apps like Spotify create communities of
users who share experiences, likes and
dislikes.

Gaming communities, or clans as they
are known, are organised groups of
players that regularly play together in
multiplayer games. Games like Angry
Birds and Pokemon Go have become
global phenomena, the latter having 650
million downloads February 2017. [12]

The modern massive open online course
movement began late 2011. The spotlight
on these companies has since dimmed, yet
they continue to expand their footprint.
In 2016, 23 million people registered for
a course for the first time ever. The total
of number of students who signed up for
at least one course is 58 million. In 2016,
2,600 new courses were announced (up
from 1,800 the previous year), taking the
total number of MOOCs to 6,850 from
over 700 universities [13]. Udemy.com is
another learning platform for professional
development; a global marketplace
powered by over 16 million students,
20,000 instructors and 45,000 courses.

Imagine ...

Imagine being in touch with everyone and everything. The world and countless possibilities at your fingertips – no
limits, no restrictions. Interacting with holograms of your colleagues, clients, friends, family. Solving problems,
making plans, playing games, learning. Part of a digital community. All the options in the palm of your hand. From
monitoring your health to managing stocks and shares, from watching your favourite sports to congratulating your
grandmother on her 100th birthday. Neither out of sight nor out of mind. Inclusive not exclusive. "Imagine all the
people sharing all the world."

Imagine what is possible when we dare to dream, when we reach for the stars in a galaxy full of opportunities
…